Japan creates world’s first spherical flying robot

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Japan’s Ministry of Defense has created one of the most versatile flying robots I have ever seen, and what is thought to be the world’s first spherical flying robot to boot.

The robot manages to combine the best of both a helicopter and a winged plane and can hover as well as travel very fast with forward motion. In fact, this little 350 gram, 42cm diameter ball can reach speeds of up to 60km/h.

As you can see in the video below, due to the use of three on-board gyro sensors it can cope with being hit while adjusting and maintaining a hovering state. Because it is a sphere, it can also land on just about any surface and even rolls around while under control on the ground.

There’s a camera on board and flight time on a single charge is currently gauged at 8 minutes. The cost of building it is surprisingly cheap at just $1,400 due to the fact it only uses off-the-shelf, commercial components.

Japan hopes to use the new robot in rescue missions for viewing (or carrying objects to?) locations that are otherwise inaccessible by ground or other flying machines.

One thing that isn’t stated, but would be useful to know, is how much of a payload this thing can carry? Also, could it be scaled up and a seat installed for manned flight? If so, it could become a pretty awesome new type of aircraft beyond a remote control flying surveillance robot.

If the flight time can be improved, we can see the Japanese government getting a lot of interest from other countries wanting to utilize the robot beyond just search and rescue missions.